Car of the Month – April 2018

Lisa 02 Princess

The dream car.

We all imagine what that would be or what it would mean to us. Once we pick the dream car, and after either purchasing it or going through a full restoration build, what do we do with it?

This is the part where we have those “day dream scenarios” of rolling down the window with two hands on the wheel while accelerating through the nicely paved open roads, feeling the wind tunnel through the cabin of the car and you have the biggest smile on your face.

You may or may not know Tesoro, but this schwarz 1973 BMW 2002 is my dream car. This build was a full down to metal documented detailed restoration that took two and half years to complete.

There’s many parts to a restoration that I wasn’t aware of such as, breaking in a newly built engine. Tesoro’s engine is a performance m10, 4 cylinder with 292 cam, stainless steel valves, high compression piano pistons, mildly ported head, weber 38/38 carburetor, cad plated nuts and bolts, yada yada yada…. With all these components, everything must be running in synch and sound like music when the key turns the ignition.

When asking people of what the best way is to break in the engine, I got a few different responses. One of them was, driving the car lightly for the first 50 miles, and then occasional full throttle runs from 2500 rims to 4500 rpms. Another response was driving the car hard and coasting along the way for the first 100 miles.

So after doing a little research, I decided to drive the car lightly at first until I felt the car getting comfortable with its idle, and then after an oil change after the first 50 miles, I drove it a little harder with varying speeds with shifting and downshifting after 100 miles or so and did another oil change. After about 200 miles or so, the trip to debut Tesoro at the Legends of the Autobahn for the 100 year anniversary was coming up and I decided what better way to break in the engine than driving 150 miles to Monterey, CA and back home for the break in!

This is when I realized, throughout all my excitement of finishing up Tesoro’s restoration and breaking in the engine, that I had forgotten Tesoro’s instrument gauges were in kilometers and not miles! So in actuality, Tesoro had 200 kilometers driven. (This was a total embarrassment, but I own up to my moment of obliviousness!) I ended up driving Tesoro the long way to Monterey, CA and reached 580 kilometers. While it was the 100 year anniversary of BMW, Tesoro received an invitation to drive on the track for the parade lap at Laguna Seca and what better way to break in the engine! After a few laps and taking the long way back home, I can successfully say I reached 809 kilometers and broke in 502 miles.

2016 was a very special year. I saw this car in my dreams over 25 years ago and now I’m driving it for many more miles to come.

Lisa “02princess”

1973 BMW 2002 TESORO

1967 BMW 1600 DERBY

[email protected]

BMW CCA 130542

instagram: 02princessLisa

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http://performancetechnic.com/blog/riseoftesoro

http://petrolicious.com/this-bmw-2002-is-the-culmination-of-a-20-year-love-affair

https://www.bmw2002faq.com/blogs/blog/143-02princesslisa-with-her-tesoro-derby/

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